Carbon change signaling device for an autographic register



y 1956 1.. JENSEN 2,744,768

CARBON CHANGE SIGNALLING DEVICE FOR AN AUTOGRAPHIC REGISTER Filed July 3, 1953 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 y 8, 1956 L. JENSEN 2,744,768

CARBON CHANGE SIGNALLING DEVICE FOR AN AUTOGRAPHIC REGISTER Filed July 3, 1953 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Zaaz's Je7zse 72;

L. JENSEN May 8, 1956 CARBON CHANGE SIGNALLING DEVICE FOR AN AUTOGRAPHIC REGISTER Filed July 3,1953

4 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIE.4

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L. JENSEN 2,744,768

CARBON CHANGE SIGNALLING DEVICE FOR AN AUTOGRAPHIC REGISTER May 8, 1956 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed July 5, 1953 5 Jerzsezz v 2,744,768 cannon ensues SIGNALlNG ns'vrcn non AN hu'rocmmcnncrsrnn v. y

Louis Jensen, Chicago, 111., assignor to Uarco,

corporated, a corporation of Illinois Application July 3, 1953, sen sits-nan 5 Claims. (11. 282-1 apredetermined number of times. With the present device guesswork is eliminated, the economical life "of" the carbon strip is utilized, and copies of the original form are always legible.

The primary object of this invention is toprovide a mechanism for visibly indicating the number of times a particular group of carbon strips have been used in conjunction with the form-feeding operation of an auto graphic register. I

Another object is to provide an indicating mechanism which can'be set to respond visibly to a predetermined number of form-feeding operations of an autographic register; I j

A further object is to provide a mechanism having a visible indicator placed adjacent the actuating handle of taken as 2,744,768 patente May s, 1956 means'for the carbonchang'e signaling device The sig--.

naling device is mounted upon a base member 11a which is generally secured to the housing within the record compartment of the register. j

A .flag member '20, mounted within the housing 11 adjacent thehandle 12, has a pair of longitudinal slots 21 and 22 operatingon a pair of guide screws 23. and 24 to limit and to guide the movement of the flag 'memher. A notch 25 is provided along one longitudinal edge of the flag member to engage a releasable latch means so that the flag may be held within the register. 'Uponwithdrawal of the latch means from the notch 25, a spring 26 pulls the flag upwardly through a slot 27. in the housing 11 to indicate to the operator that the carbon sheets need changing. I l

The latch meahs which holds the flag in concealed position within the register includes a bell-crank lever member 20 when the arm 30 is movedupwardly to pivot the portion 2 9out of the notch 25.

A latch release mechanism, provided to disengage the latch means performs its function in accordance with a predetermined setting of the release mechanism. In

this particular embodiment the release mechanism is mounted on a fixed shaft 33. It includes a toothed Wheel 34 and an integral sleeve 35, both freely pivoted on the shaft'33. An abutting sleeve 36 has detents 37 and 38 on opposite faces of its flanged end 39,'and is'held in a Fig. 4,'a vertical sectional view similar to Fig. 2,-' sh owing the flag member in releasedposition;

Fig, 5, a plan view *of the cam member and an ad-' jacent gear removed from the autographic register;

Fig. 6, a fragmentaryvertical'sectional view taken as indicated on line 6-6 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 7, a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken as indicated on line 7- 7 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 8, a plan view of the wheel which sets the frequency of operation or the indicating mechanism; and

Fig. 9, a plan view of the toothed gear in theratchet mechanism.

In the embodiment illustrated, an autographic register has a platen 10 over which the continuous forms of stationery are advanced, and which is mounted .upon a housing 11. An operating handle 12 is connected to a shaft 13 to turn gears 14 and 15 and drive the formfeeding mechanism of the register. Gears 14 and 15 also rotate the cam members 16 upon the shaft 17 through a pair of gears 18 and 19 to provide the drive ing drive means.

fixed position upon the threaded end/of the shaft 33 by a nut 40. A tensioned coiled spring 41embraces the sleeve 35 and is anchored' bythe d'e'tent 37 and cap' screw 42 to urge the toothed whe'el 34 in a clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 2;

' The rotary movement of 'the toothed wheel 34 in clockwise direction is always limited by engagement between a stud 43 'on the toothed Wheel 34' and'a stud 44 on a floating wheel 45. The floating'wheel 45 is mounted upon the sleeve 36 and is yieldingly heldadjacent the an autographic register form-feeding mechanism to make flanged end 39 by a coiled Spring 46 that. any ti of the apertures 47 in the wheel 45 can be placed. about the detent 38 to adjust the position of the stud 44.

The toothed wheel is given intermittent rotary motion by engagement 'of an advancing pawl ,48 with the teeth of the wheel. A pawl advancing portion 49 is pivto'the portion 49,, the pawl forces the toothed wheel in.

acounter-clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 2, when the pawl advancing portion is drivenby the 'reciprocat i The advancing pawl 48' and the por:v

tion 49 are returned for the next stroke of th drive means y the spring 54. i l I A-br'aking pawl 55,pivoted"upon the cap screw 56,

is yieldingly held in engagement with the toothed wheel by the spring 57. In operation, the toothed wheel is ad- The gearing of the drive means is arranged so that the cam member 16 makes one complete rotation for every two operations of the handle 12. Thus it is seen that the follower 59 engages the notch 51 in the flanged end 50 every other turn of the operating handle 12, and the toothed wheel is advanced one notch by' the advancing pawl'45 every other turn of the operating handle.

After each advancement of the follower, it is returned only part way to its initial position by the spring 54. A spring .62 which'pulls a crank shaft 63, mounting aroming blade (not shown), against the shoulder 64 of the follower completes the movement of the follower to its initial position near the cam 16. The alternating action of the follower also operates the folding blade to deposit record stationery strips in proper'folded' relation in opposite ends of the record compartment of the register.

The latch releasing operation is similar to the trip- I ping of a trigger. The stud 43 advances in a counterclockwise direction, as shown in Fig. 2, each time the advancing pawl turns the toothed wheel. Ultimately the stud 43 advances 'to a position adjacent the end of the bell-crank lever pivot arm 30. The next advance of the toothed wheel causes the stud 43 to trip the lever arm 30 disengaging the notch engaging portion 29 of the bellcrank lever 28 from the notch 25 and allowing the flag member 20 to be sprung upwardly by the spring 26.

When the flag'mernber is disengaged, the advancing and braking pawls are likewise disengaged from the toothed wheel to allow the wheel to be turned by the coil spring 41, returning the stud 43 to its initial position in contact with the stud 44 of the floating Wheel 45. When the flag member is released, the braking pawl is disengaged from the toothed wheel by the ledge 65 on the flag member bearing upwardly on an end of the pawl. The advancing pawl is disengaged from the toothed wheel by the upward engagement of a machine screw 66 upon the end of a pivoted lever 67 which raises the advancing pawl from its engaged position.

The indicating mechanism is recocked by once again lowering the flag member within the housing 11, so that the notch engaging portion 29 of the bell-cranlclever again recesses in the notch in the flag member. ering of the flag member removes the ledge 65 and the machine screw 66 from contact with the advancing and braking pawls so that the two pawls are once again urged The lowinto engagement with the toothed wheel by their respective springs. At this point the stud 4 3. and the toothed wheel are once again in initial position ready to be successively advanced by the advancing pawl 48 1. A carbon change signaling device for an autographic register having a form-feeding mechanism, comprising;

a flag member mounted within the register and releasable from a concealed position in the register to signaling position; spring means urging said flag member toward signaling position; a spring loaded trigger mechanism for engaging and releasably holding said flag member in'concealed position; a ratchet member having .a stud.

for tripping said trigger mechanism in one position to release the flag member from concealed position; and

v engaging the stud on the toothed wheel to establish the,

drive means actuated by the form-feeding mechanism for advancing the ratchet member step-by-step from an initial position to said one position, whereby the flag will be released after a predetermined number of operations of the form-feeding mechanism.

2. A signaling device as specified in claim 1, in which the ratchet member is normally spring-urged toward the initial position and means are providedmovable yvith the flag member forkdisengaging the drive means from the ratchet member when the flag member moves to signaling position to permit the ratchet member to return to its initial position;

3. A signaling device as specified in claim 2, which a second stud is adjustably mounted within the register adjacent the ratchet member and inthe path of movement of the first stud on the ratchet member so that the studs are brought into abutting relation when the ratchet memher is disengaged from the drive means, said studs in abutment defining the initial position of the ratchet mem; ber, the second stud being manually adjustable to vary said initial position. v

4. 'A signalling device as specified in claim 2, in which an advancing pawlis provided for imparting intermittent rotary movement tothe ratchet member, a braking pawl is provided to hold the ratchet member in its advanced position, and the means movable with the flag member comprises a-pair of shoulders each adapted to contact and disengage a pawl from the ratchet member as the flag member is moved to signaling position. 5

'5. A carbon change signaling device for an autographic register, comprising: a flag member; a guideway mounted within the register to direct said flag member from con: cealed position to signaling position; spring means yield-, ably urging said flag member toward its signaling posi tion; a spring loaded trigger mechanism releasably holding said flag member 'in its concealed position; a ratchet mechanism including a toothed wheel having a stud secured to the wheel for tripping said trigger mechanism to release said flag member, an advancing pawl for intermittent rotary advancement of said Wheel, and a braking pawl to hold said wheel in its advanced position; a second spring means yieldable urging said toothed wheel toward its initial position; a drive mechanism including .a cam memberon the. form-feeding mechanism of the register, and a reciprocable cam followerengaging said, cam and the advancing pawl of said ratchet mechanism, whereby the stud on..said toothed wheel is advanced step-by-step into tripping engagement with said trigger mechanism, permitting the fiagmember to move to signalling position after a predetermined number of form-feeding operations. of the register; and means for manually, adjusting the.- initial position relative to the trigger tripping position, said means including a shaft mounting the toothed wheelya. flanged sleeve fixed to said shaft and having an outwardly extending detent on the flange, a floating wheel on said shaft having a series of apertures each adapted to fit about. said detent, and a stopmember on said floating wheel for 1,882,313 I Bottle Oct. 11, 1932 2,078,457 Pringle a a1 Apr. 27, 1937 

